BASS MP Brian Paynter has reignited the fight with the State Government to fund the Wonthaggi Secondary College senior campus.
Mr Paynter has sent out a petition to Bass Coast residents, and some in Cardinia, calling on the State Labor Government to “end their neglect” of the school.
The college missed out on millions in funding for a new senior campus in the 2017-18 State Budget handed down in May.
Mr Paynter plans to raise the issue in Parliament when it resumes in August.
“I can then say to the Premier, ‘These are the views of the people that it directly impacts’.
“People are demanding that it be built. This is about hearing back from the people that have been let down as a result of the 2017-18 State Budget.”
He acknowledged not everyone would sign the petition and return it, but said the response is the “tip of the iceberg”.
Mr Paynter has told Education Minister James Merlino he’s “bitterly disappointed” by the decision not to allocate funding to the school.
“We just need to push the State Government and say ‘We need a commitment now that it’ll be in next year’s budget and if it can be funded in any way, shape or form prior to next year’s budget, do it.
“Every budget we miss out on is another 12 months of delays.
“They’ve got money to plan it and yet they’re not committing money to build it. It’s like giving a kid a lolly and saying ‘You just can’t unwrap it’.”
If funding was secured in this year’s State Budget, the new campus would have opened in 2019.
To sign the petition, go online to www.surveymonkey.com/r/5RQT8KH
Wonthaggi school funding petition
Bass MP Brian Paynter is frustrated the State Government failed the students and families of Wonthaggi Secondary College, leaving them without millions in funding for a new senior campus. He’s sent out a petition for residents to sign, demanding the State Government fund senior campus works. mm052817
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i went to this school when it was Wonthaggi Technical school in the 80’s. As a year 12 student our social homegroup room was in a half divided grotty old portable that had rotten windows and worn out flooring and was furtherest from the main building out on the side of the oval. We shivered in the winter and we suffered in the heat in the summer, we knew know better so we didnt question it. My point is……it needed bulldozing in the 80’s, gobsmacking that the next generation are still suffering in it in 2017, a long 30 years later. This generation of children do know better, a whole lot better!!! The aerial shot says it all, a drive around it shocks most, it represents 3rd world, proverty and absolute neglect to our children. Its hard to take on board or even process why Wonthaggi Secondary College didnt get a piece of the governments pie to replace this dogs breakfast.